Country fiche for Slovakia

General information

The Slovakian crowdfunding industry represents a newcomer in Europe. So far, projects from Slovakia have widely used international crowdfunding platforms.
By mid 2015, some local crowdfunding platforms started their business and tried to survive in the difficult policy and legislative environment.

AF market volume per capita

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Role of alternative finance

Overall size of the market:

There are currently no numbers available for crowdfunding volumes in Slovakia.
Crowdfunding initiatives in Slovakia can be grouped under two main, partially overlapping, types: platforms that seek support for philanthropic, non-commercial
activities, and those focused more on commercial projects, including technology innovations.

There is an overall positive trend in the area of central and eastern europe. No specific data about Slovakia is available.

Total crowdfunding platforms:

The number of crowdfunding platforms in Slovakia is limited, there are approximately 2-4 local platforms and others are all international.
- 3 platforms dominate the philanthropic fundraising, or support for volunteer activities.
- 4 platforms are servicing mostly for-profit projects (one of them is currently not operational).

Most platforms dominate the philanthropic fundraising, or support for volunteer activities

Lending crowdfunding

Others

Regulatory Context

Evidence

Is there a specific national regulation in place applying to crowdfunding?

No

General regulation

Non-specific regulation that may affect crowdfunding includes the following acts:
- The Public Collections Act for publically beneficial purposes only – ‘easy’ regulatory regime, non-profit basis only;
- The Collective Investment Act for licence and prospectus requirements, Possible exception of financing regular business activity with half of the funds being collected from own resources.
- The Securities and Investment Services Act as well for license and prospectus requirements.

Support policies

Overview:

For donation and rewards-based crowdfunding, the new Public Collections Act – an easy regulatory framework for publically beneficial purposes Crowdfunding, is a good initiative. However, with regard to investment, no specific public activities supporting the development of crowdfunding as an alternative tool for finance have been implemented.

Evidence

Matching funds initiatives

State-aid

Tax benefits

Crowdfunding guidelines for entrepreneurs / investors

Guidelines for researchers on crowdfunding for R&I

Additional insight

Success story of crowdfunding platfroms for R&I:

NAME: LudiaLudom
DESCRIPTION: It is a donation-based platform that, after around 4 and half years since its foundation, raised EUR 2 million in Slovakia.
LINK: https://www.ludialudom.sk/

Success story of crowdfunding projects for R&I:

PROJECT NAME: Slovensko.Digital
PLATFORM: LudiaLudom
DESCRIPTION: The project aimed at creating an association with the goal of promoting more public investments in the Technology, Information & Communication sector. The promoters of this project identified a deficiency within the Slovak public sector, that has not supported enough innovation and development. The success of the project is due to the goals of the donors, which would like to work in a more advanced background.
AMOUNT RAISED: € 9,432
LINK: https://www.ludialudom.sk/Profil/detail/24911

Policy measures:

"While Slovak innovative projects could - and often do - benefit from well-established crowdfunding platforms in other countries, public policies for innovation and/or support of start-ups could also target this issue and create better conditions for existing, or potentially new crowdfunding initiatives. For example, the Slovak innovation ecosystem could benefit from specific legal instruments and policies inspired by Austria (alternative financing), or Portugal (collaborative funding), described in respective Policy Briefs."

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